Antique console tables

The console table emerged around the end of the seventeenth century. More decorative than functional, this refined piece of furniture highlights the exceptionally skilled work of the artisans during the period. Its ornamentation developed over the centuries with great finesse: gilded wood with openwork, finely carved motifs, moulded marble tops with rounded edges, precious wood veneer, marquetry, vernis Martin (varnish), mosaic work, inlays of mother-of-pearl and porcelain, and so on.

Placed against a wall, the first models possessed four legs joined by a crosspiece and subsequently had two legs. The chest of drawers en console and the console desserte with open shelving emerged during the Louis XVI period. During the Second Empire, the console table gradually lost its curves and lightness and became more rectilinear, with more solid designs in dark wood.